Friday, August 8, 2014

It's About Time

USA Today broke a story today about a new show set to premiere on CBS Sports. It's being sold as a "sports talk show" hosted, produced, and directed by women.

This is huge. And it's about damn time.

I may not know the title, who is hosting it, or when exactly it's slated to premiere, but I definitely plan on watching it. I don't even know if I can get CBS Sports in Canada, but I'll try. I'll plan a road trip across the border to watch the premiere if I have to. It's going to be an important moment for a lot of sports fans, and I want to be there when it happens.

Even the most seasoned female sports reporters don't always get the recognition they deserve. I'm very proud of TSN for hiring so many female anchors, but even that is proof that women have to work incredibly hard to be taken seriously. It's time that women got a big stage, one that doesn't have a glass-top desk. It's time that they're given a chance to truly shine, or to yell, or to fuck up, because male analysts get to do that all the time. I'm not saying that all male sports anchors or analysts are bad at what they do, but the culture of sports broadcasting is a certain way. It's a boys' club, and women have made great strides to change that, but there are still better opportunities for meatheaded former players, or guys who like to talk really loud, than there are for a lot of women regardless of their work ethic and their level of intelligence.

It's time that women are given these major roles - we've seen such great work from a lot of female sportscasters, and they deserve to get their due.

When the show premieres, I'm hoping to see lots of in-depth discussions, segments I can learn from, and a few good laughs. But, to be honest, I'll settle for seeing myself a little bit better-represented on television. I know that there's a chance that the show might disappoint me - television is just like that sometimes. And that's okay, because we've seen that happen before, and in some cases, we see it happen regularly. (ahem, Coach's Corner) But no matter what, it'll be nice knowing that there's something different out there, and that women will be working hard to produce it. It'll be nice to see a new perspective on the sports world. And it will most definitely be nice knowing that the show was produced in an environment that might be a little bit more welcoming than some other media outlets out there.

And if they want to hire me as an intern or a proofreader, that would be nice, too.

by the way...

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that's what she said

Rookieisno longer ~czechtacular's protegee, no matter what she tells you, she's the one running the show around here, having been raised from the ranks of "Souray, he's the one that has a really mean slapshot, right?" to Outstanding TV-Hockey Analogist in a mere two years, and hasn't stopped since. According to Rookie, clubs do not sign players, they buy them - which may as well be how the rest of the world looks at these things. She tries to show love to all her Habs, since there will always be rival teams to hate on them. This means that yes, she is in the minority of people who has never given up on Carey Price, because you don't give up on a Montreal Canadien. (She almost came close this one time, but she has never given up. It's a Rick Astley kind of love.) Her seemingly endless pop culture references come from a love for television that has even deeper roots than her love of hockey.

~czechtacular is the one who pushed Rookie to get this blog, and a Twitter, and thus a great service to the Habs' online world was complete. She herself does post sometimes but very rarely, often gargling up random information stemming from minor pro to major junior hockey. Pro-underdog trendsetter and founder of the now 1500+ liked Guy Boucher Facebook page that mere months ago didn't even show up in search results, you'll usually find her going off the page in rants about people you've barely heard of. And loving it.